Goodreads provides passionate bibliophiles with a specialized social media site to discover new literature, review and rate the old, discuss ‘em all, and even engage in Q&A sessions with some of their favorite authors. While not nearly as popular a forum as Facebook or Twitter, some writers still cultivate a presence on the site, posting promotional materials and allowing users to “fan” them. The following authors hailing out of academia (mostly creative writers!) might not necessarily maintain their profiles, but still offer materials to help readers get to know them better all the same.
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Margaret Atwood:
One of the most decorated living writers and poets today, with well over 50 distinctions to her name, served teaching stints at University of British Columbia, Sir George Williams University, University of Alberta, York University, University of Alabama, and New York University. These days, the beloved author of The Handmaid’s Tale, The Blind Assassin, Oryx and Crake, and plenty of others continues promoting literary, feminist, and environmentalist causes while also acting as an Honorary President of the Rare Bird Society and the Vice-President of PEN International. Margaret Atwood’s Goodreads presence features a few videos, polls, and a sparsely updated blog; she tends to interact more with fans via her Twitter feed but still proves a wholly worthwhile follow.
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Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni:
National Book Award, American Book Award, and PEN Faulkner Award winner (among others!) and University of Houston professor Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni earns considerable acclaim for her lush poetry, short stories, and novels, most notably Mistress of Spices (shortlisted for the prestigious Orange Prize) and collection Arranged Marriage. She doesn’t update her Goodreads blog terribly often but keeps some excellent curated lists on recommended reads for fans of Bengali, young adult, South Asian, and inspirational literature. Bibliophiles wanting to learn more about what authors directly impact her oeuvre should check out the list dedicated to sharing her favorites and catch up with the straightforward reviews she occasionally writes about them.
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Paulo Coelho:
Open source and new media enthusiasts know this novelist, lyricist, and dramatist as the man responsible for uploading his own works to The Pirate Bay for torrenting. Best known for international sensation The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho is actually not affiliated with any college or university. But his status as one of the juggernauts on the global literary scene, score of humanitarian and writing awards, and — most notably — membership in the Brazilian Academy of Letters certainly grant him enough credibility as an academic for the sake of this list. Coelho’s official Goodreads account proves sparse when compared to his more enthusiastically updated blog though, unlike some authors, he adds fans as friends.
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Erik Larson:
Erik Larson, the National Book Award nominee and Edgar Award winner for The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair that Changed America and bestselling author of Isaac’s Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History and In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin once taught nonfiction writing courses at Johns Hopkins University and San Francisco State University. Nowadays, though, he mostly works as a journalist, writer, and speaker focusing on the very same historical topics that wrangled him so much acclaim in the first place. Goodreads unfortunately mixes him up with comic book writer and artist Erik Larsen when compiling his bibliography, but his page is still worth exploring for the reviews he offers other books.
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Richard Dawkins:
Despite his status as a highly influential evolutionary biologist and probably the closest thing atheism has to an evangelist, the author of highly influential reads like The Selfish Gene and The God Delusion keeps a remarkably thin, largely controversy-free Goodreads profile with very little material. University of Oxford’s Richard Dawkins spends so much time researching, writing, touring, and speaking, it’s easy to see why he tweets more than sharing what he knows and believes over the bibliophilic social media site. All the same, though, his woefully neglected little page still makes for a great place for supporters (and likely a few detractors, this being the Internet and all) to gather and dissect his works as well as share their favorite quotes with the rest of the community.
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China Mieville:
Most readers tend to know of China Mieville as the experimental fantasy, horror, and science fiction author of cyberpunk classic Perdido Street Station and winner of multiple Hugo Awards, Locus Awards, Arthur C. Clarke Awards, and British Fantasy Awards — as well as a few other grand honors. Other readers might know him as a Warwick University creative writing professor and former Frank Knox Fellow at Harvard University. His passions lay with dabbling in different genres (he desires to write at least one book in each) and flipping common tropes around and socialist politics, both of which he crossposts about on Goodreads and his official blog. Stop here for Mievelle’s further literary inquiries into the New Weird movement and more.
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Oliver Sacks:
With an academic pedigree including New York University, Columbia University, Yeshiva University, and Warwick University and entry into the American Academy for Arts and Letters, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and Commander of the Order of the British Empire, it’s safe to assume that Oliver Sacks knows a few things about medicine, neurology, and psychology – the thematic cornerstones of his bibliography. General audiences and popular science aficionados alike launched Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain to the bestseller list and solidified The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat & Other Clinical Tales as a psychiatry essential. Hitting up his Goodreads profile reveals a great series of videos delving into his research about how music influences brain physiology.
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Audrey Niffenegger:
Even avowed non-readers have probably heard of The Time Traveler’s Wife, the debut novel by this fixture in the Chicago art scene. Audrey Niffenegger teaches at Columbia College Chicago and the North Shore Art League in addition to cavorting around the city promoting art, literature, and creativity as a founding member of the Text 3 (also known as T3) collective. Goodreads users who hop on over to her official page can learn about her smash success that spawned a 2009 movie, sophomore novel Her Fearful Symmetry, devotion to the visual arts, and synthesis of different media through a great series of videos.
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Susan Straight:
University of California, Riverside offers an MFA in Creative Writing and Writing for the Performing Arts thanks to the efforts of this National Book Award finalist (for Highwire Moon) and winner of the Lannan Literary Award and Edgar Allen Poe Award. Professor Susan Straight continues teaching within the graduate program she co-founded, commenting over at Salon and NPR, and, of course, writing short stories and novels raking in critical acclaim, including publication in the lauded Best American Short Stories series. This month, she joined up with a Goodreads group allowing fans to ask her questions directly, though she tends to ignore the blogging and video posting features.
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Diana Gabaldon:
Prior to her leaving in order to devote all her time to writing, Arizona State University kept a unique biology and computer science expert on its staff. Science Software Quarterly founding editor and winner of the RITA Award and Quill Book Award Diana Gabaldon now pays the bills as an acclaimed science fiction, fantasy, and romance author who dishes out writing advice and discusses her latest projects with fans over Goodreads. A couple of videos featuring interviews about A Breath of Snow and Ashes (book six in the Outlanders series) and Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade, the latter of which harkening back to her digital and new roots by taking place in Second Life.
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John Irving:
Former University of Iowa (where he attended and befriended the legendary Kurt Vonnegut), Mount Holyoake College, and Brandeis University professor John Irving wound up quitting teaching in order to win an Academy Award for adapting his own novel into a screenplay (The Cider House Rules) and hit the bestseller list with The World According to Garp and A Prayer for Owen Meany. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, he spends little time on Goodreads but at least shares a few video interviews about his publications and the craft of writing itself. For the most part, though, Irving remains content to keep hammering out his latest novels versus bothering with most social media platforms.
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Leonard Peikoff:
Objectivism and its adherence to “rational selfishness” understandably draws in considerable criticism, but no less than Ayn Rand herself deemed Leonard Peikoff her worthy successor; love the ideology or loathe it, that definitely makes this philosopher, academic, and former radio show host an important figure. Formerly a Hunter College professor, he eventually launched the Ayn Rand Institute, where he teaches courses in the highly controversial mindset and — at the behest of the author herself — executes her estate and deals with copyright and publication permissions. Despite this credibility, his official Goodreads page, however, sports only 27 fans and almost no content beyond a listing of his contributions to Objectivist literature, most notably the seminal Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand.
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Alexander McCall Smith:
It makes perfect sense that University of Edinburgh’s Professor Emeritus of Medical Law (and a former professor at University of Botswana) would channel his bioethics expertise into internationally beloved crime and mystery novels. The No. One Ladies’ Detective Agency series – among other publications, of course – hasn’t prevented Alexander McCall Smith from participating in academia, but it definitely established him as a common name amongst literary and genre fiction buffs. He quite likes interacting with fans via Twitter and Facebook more than Goodreads, it seems, though there are some video interviews available to enjoy!
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Brandon Sanderson:
Following Robert Jordan’s passing, Brigham Young University creative writing professor Brandon Sanderson famously completed the Wheel of Time series using the creator’s surviving notes. Prior to receiving the assignment from the late author’s widow (who considers herself a big fan), he earned a right fair amount of acclaim amongst fantasy fans as the man behind the Mistborn books (and eventual multimedia presence). While Sanderson doesn’t share what books he enjoys, Goodreads fans still find themselves treated to some great insight about his creative process – as well as news about his latest releases – via the blog and small video library.
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Deborah Harkness:
Deborah Harkness finds inspiration in her history research and publishes both fiction and nonfiction pertaining to the subject, especially when it comes to science, magic, and medicine. In fact, the University of Southern California professor and proud, avowed oenophile (she writes about wine quite a lot!) even discovered the Book of Soyga while she studied the eponymous scientist, mathematician, occultist, and philosopher for John Dee’s Conversations with Angels: Cabala, Alchemy, and the End of Nature! But Harkness’ fictional A Discovery of Witches scored bestseller status. Harkness doesn’t really blog over at Goodreads, but she still adds back any fans who wish to friend her profile, shares some of the books she’s read and plans to read, and posts a couple of videos.
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